Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 300, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1919 — WARNS OF DUST PERIL IN MILLS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WARNS OF DUST PERIL IN MILLS

Department of Agriculture Tells of Tragedies Which Carry Own Lesson. LOSS OF LIFE AND PROPERTY f!en in Flour Mills, Cereal Mills and Elevators Under Government Urge Are Using More Care—Preventive Devices Installed. Washington.—Here is a remarkable ■contrast: Between M«reh, 1916, and October, 1917—twenty months—dust explosions ■destroyed four of the largest grain and ■cereal plants fli the United States and Canada, killing 24 people, injuring 36 and destroying S6,OOOJXK> worth of foodstuffs and buildings/ From October, 1917, to August, 1919 ■—twenty-one months —there has been only one disastrous dust explosion in a flour mitt, cereal mill or grain elevator in this country. This explosioh ■occurred in May, 1919, in an elevator In the Northwest. Three men w'ere killed, four injured and property damaged to the extent of $150,000. * Did not the elevators and mjlls handle more grain and flour in the latter period than in the earlier one? And did they not have trouble with the changing of help and have to use Inexperienced men? More explosions, Ip the natural course of events, were to be expected in the later period. The secret of it is' that all the men in the flour mills, cereal mjlls and elevators have been careful and preventive devices have been Installed. Carry Their Lesson. The following accounts of tragedies ®nd near-tragedies supplied by the bureau of chemistry of the United States department of agriculture convey their Own, lesson. A feed-grinding plant in Canada met with a s2,ooo,oooJoss from an explosion and Are caused by foreign material entering the grinding machine. The sparks created by this foreign material, passing through the grinding plates ignited the dust in and around the machine. A explosion followed. Dust-laden air propagated the flame to a large bin, where the dust had been stirred into suspension. This produced a second and violent explosion and the fire that resulted completely destroyed the plant, killing 17 wen.and injuring 16. Friction between any two dissimilar bodies will produce static electricity. A spark of this type started a fire in an elevator head of a’ southern export house. Since the elevator heads and legs were completely boxed in and the machinery was operating properly there w’as absolutely no possibility of any cause for this fire except static electricity. The discharge ignited the 'dust in the elevator head, the flames burst out and caused a fire on the top floor. Fortunately the plant was

equipped with an autdmatic sprinkler -system and the fire was extinguished before much damage was done. By grounding every elevator head in the building this danger was eliminated, and /since that time no fire or explosion has occurred in the plant , Care Prevents Disaster. dt’was the custom at a certain cereal grinding mill in the middle West to keep the plant as free as possible from fell dust. This practice, no doubt, saved the plant from a disastrous explosion and fire. Some bits of foreign material got past the magnetic separator, and upon entering the grinding machine caused eparks to fly. The sparks ignited the dust in suspension, blew open the doors of the gripding machines, and flames shot out to a distance of several feet; but because of the lack of dust to propagate the flame the fire went out. Had there been accumulations of dust near by it no doubt would have been thrown into suspension and another and very violent explosion would have resulted. At an elevator in the East three men were transferring grain from a storage bin to a shipping bin when one of them smelled the odor of burning rubber. “I guess we had better see what Is the trouble,” said one. z _ ' ‘‘Let’s finish running tljls bln first,”

said another. “We can finish In about ten minutes.” • “All right,” said the first, and they continued working. A few minutes later —an explosion, and then a fire. Flames spread rapidly and the heat was so intense that the firemen could not get the fire under control. The plant was completely destroyed, with a loss of $1,500,000. Enough grain was destroyed to furnish Chicago with bread for a month. Seven Men Killed. ' A choke-up occurred recently in an export elevator in the East. One of the men hurried to investigate and found it to be in. leg No. 1. He signaled in for leg No. 1 to be shut down, but because of some mistake leg No. 2 was shut down instead. The belt in No. 1 continued to slip until the heat produced was so great that the belt began to burn, thus igniting the dust in the leg and producing a sharp local explosion, which blew the leg apart. This explosion stirred up the dust about the plant, ignited it, and produced a very violent explosion. The fire which resulted completely destroyed the plant. Seven men were killed, 22 injured and the property damage amounted to $1,500,000. The miller in a modern mill in the South believed in having his plant clean, in having efficient fire-fighting apparatus, and in using a flashlight if he must inspect a bin by artificial light; Occasionally, however, he would go through the plant smoking his pipe. No Place to Smoke. • One afternoon he wished to determine the amount of flour in a bln, so he took a flashlight, lifted the trapdoor of the bin, and was about to flash dip, light when he found a mass of flames in front of him. He was smoking his pipe at the time. His hands and face were badly burned, and the trapdoor sill was scorched. Fortunately, because of the lack of dust in I th 6 plant, the blaze vanished almost .as quickly as it came. The miller in

a modern mill in the South still believes in smoking—but not in a flour mill or grain elevator. ' While inspecting an elevator in the East an Insurance man found an extension light with a flimsy wire guard lying on'the floor and remarked, “This light should not be lying on the floor. “All right,” said one of the men, and picked up the light, intending to throw it over a beam overhead. .The bulb struck the beam and broke. This disturbed and ignited the dust which lay thick on the beam. Flames burst

out for ten feet or more in every direction. Fortunately there was little dust in the air, so a disastrous explosion did not follow.

What a Grain Dust Explosion Followed by a Fire Did to a Grain Elevator.